Research Associate - Sheffield, United Kingdom - University of Sheffield

University of Sheffield

Verified Company

Sheffield, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Recent years have further revealed the depth of inequality in UK cities, including in relation to race and unequal access to the elusive identity of 'Britishness' in the context of polarized attitudes towards migration, asylum and the UK's imperial past.

The experience of Somali diaspora - among the UK's most stigmatized and misunderstood but resourceful communities - throws these issues and the broader challenges of post-Brexit, pandemic Britain into sharp relief.

The UK Somali experience sits at the intersection of local and global challenges in ways that are emblematic of contemporary questions of race, refuge and unequal citizenship in the context of problematic ideas of 'integration'.

Moreover, the lives of UK Somali communities are often highly transcontinental, with patterns of investment and political engagement in the 'homeland', and the reality or aspiration of 'return', shaping their relationship with the UK and the British state.

The Somali experience of life in UK cities is thus intimately connected to development processes in Somalia, and vice versa.

Consequently we need to think about policy in more connected ways too, spanning the divides between local communities policy and international development policy.

This project will analyse these intersections.

It frames the British Somali experience of urban citizenship in relation to the varying 'faces' of Britain both locally and globally, through research in three very different cities that illustrate diverse aspects of the UK's urban political geography and have different roles in Somali migration histories:
Sheffield, Bristol andLondon borough of Camden. This is supplemented by research with returnees and transcontinental communities in Somalia/Somaliland.

It combines an interdisciplinary approach drawing across urban studies and development studies with a collaborative, partnership-based design, drawing in civil society partners including the Refugee Council, City of Sanctuary, the Council of Somali Organizations and local Somali community-based organizations in all three cities.

The research aims to explore:
i) the experiences of multigenerational Somali communities in UK cities in terms of exclusion, representation, service access, aspirations and inter-community engagement; ii) how this relates to changing transcontinental networks and developments in Somalia; iii) how UK policy both globally and locally feeds into the Somali diasporic experience and capacity to manage recurrent crises; and iv) how a better understanding of these dynamics could foster enhanced urban citizenship and solidarity, and improved policy across a range of domains.

This position is a full time, fixed-term position for 2.5 years (30 months).

You will play a crucial role in the project, in terms of data collection, managing relationships with Somali community organisations in the three cities, analysis and writing-up.

We are looking for someone with a PhD in Urban Studies, Geography, Migration Studies, Anthropology, Sociology or related fields, and with experience in qualitative research methods and qualitative analysis.

The key research methods will be life history interviews and other forms of semi-structured interviews, inter-generational focus group discussions, and the use of solicited diaries (including audio diaries) to generate rich data on everyday life.

In selecting participants we will be working closely with community organisations in Bristol, Sheffield and the London Borough of Camden.

You will be jointly supervised by Professor Tom Goodfellow (Department of Urban Studies and Planning, University of Sheffield) and Dr Muna Abdi (MA Consulting Ltd).